I am supremely confident as a more than eight year resident of the valley that we are more than qualified to host a Super Bowl and the FBR Open in the same week. Specifically, Glendale has been put on the map of the world as hosts of SB XLII. A year of remarkable behind the scenes effort has turned the once expansive farm land into an NFL experience that is the greatest in the 42 year history of Super Bowls. Out of town guests are flooding into Arizona to experience the NFL's marquee event first hand.

The only disappointment is if they don't have a ticket to Sunday's game. The average price for a ticket is in the $4,300 range. The NFL face value is $700 to $900. I've seen one ticket package for the game, a limo for the day, passes to some V-I-P parties and other amenities go for over $19,000. Many people are coming into the valley for the week and renting homes. A palace on Camelback Mountain had a daily rental fee of $25,000. Lower end prices were $1,500 for the week for a condo in the East Valley. There was a lot of rental property prices in between the high and low ends. By the way, if you can afford any of the above prices, I'm pretty sure you're not too concerned about the cost.

The FBR Open is a proven winner when it comes to putting on a PGA tour event. The Thunderbirds have a brilliant formula for success that seems to improve yearly. This is my 8th FBR Open and every year the Thunderbirds have come up with new, innovating ways to make the tournament even better. For the more affluent and businesses, they've added a second deck of sky boxes to the world famous 16th hole, increasing the stadium atmosphere, which makes it the most unique hole in golf. For the person on a tighter budget, the Thunderbirds added a large Pavilion tent near the 2ND and 9Th greens. It's affordable and has a sports bar/restaurant feel to it. Entertainment is not limited to world class golf. If you've never been to the Birds Nest (it's affordable) you have missed a party to top all parties and it goes for 4 nights. You'll never find a better place to people watch than the TPC Scottsdale during tournament week.

One week, two great events in one great valley. It doesn't get much better than that. gcruz@kpho.com

Gary Cruz
CBS 5 Sports Anchor

Eli's coming!!!! So are the surprising New York Football Giants. The kid who looks like a grown up version of "Opie" from the Andy Griffith Show of the 1960's and 70's and a popular rerun right here on CBS 5 in the 90's and earlier this decade. For much of his career, Peyton's little brother has been the object of criticism from the moment he told the San Diego Chargers he wouldn't sign with them if they drafted him first overall in the 2004 NFL draft. The Boltz took him but as most know, traded him to New York for Phillip Rivers. It was all downhill for a long period of time as Manning's body language after an interception or a bad play, made him look like a beaten puppy.

The New York media crushed the kid day in and day out. His now former teammate, Tiki Barber, ripped Eli's leadership abilities before he decided to join the media. It didn't let up until late December. The 4th year player put his team in position to hand New England their first loss of the year. The G-men let it get away late and lost 38 to 35 but after the NFC title game win at Green Bay Manning said his team started to really believe they could do special things after that loss to the Patriots. He was right as they did the near impossible by winning 10 road games, none bigger than at Dallas and Green Bay. That last victory earned them a trip to Glendale and Super Bowl 42.

Today, Elisha Nelson Manning (Eli to all of us) is the toast of the town. He's made a remarkable run from the outhouse to the penthouse. The 27 year old won't blow you away with a charismatic personality (big bro Peyton has a lock on it) and admitted on national television that he doesn't get too high or too low and sometimes he's hard to read. All we have to know is he has matured to the point that he finally has emerged as one of the leaders of a veteran ball club and that speaks volumes.

I also found out that Eli is superstitious. He told his college sweetheart that if she wanted to watch the NFC championship game in person, she would watch it with the Packers faithful in the stands at Lambeau Field in minus 26 degree (wind chill factor) temperatures. His first lady bundled up, endured the bitter cold and watched her man lead the Giants to Super Bowl. Now that's leadership and a very understanding fiance. gcruz@kpho.com

Gary Cruz
CBS 5 Sports Anchor

We have reached the lull before the storm sports fans. Before you know it, the population of the valley will grow by the thousands. A Super Bowl and the FBR Open are huge draws. That wasn't too obvious, was it? Anyway, a huge influx of fans from the Northeast will converge on us in support of Super Bowl finalists New England and the New York Giants. Over 500,00, most of which are from our state, will make the TPC of Scottsdale, especially on Saturday of tournament week, one of the largest cities in Arizona. Pick your poison the week of January 28th through February 3rd, Glendale or Scottsdale. As a person who has experienced both events let me float a few tips your way.

Super Bowl - 1. Bring a lot of cash
2. Have hotel reservations
3. Learn to love huge crowds
4. Patience (you will be forced to stand in long lines for everything)
5. Get resturant reservations far in advance
6. Smile and pretend you understand what our out-of-state visitors are saying

When I was playing high school sports, many of my coaches would use different techniques to motivate us. Some just plain lied. One coach said that night's opponent had said horrible things about our mom's. Another said (and lied) that our biggest rival was spreading the word that we had cheated in our previous match up. In those two cases, we actually won both games. It got better over the years when people were quoted in the newspapers. Trust me, as a high school athlete, I never missed the sportspage and leading up to a big game I found some great bulletin board material to use as motivation. It didn't always work but my teams would work themselves into a frenzy.

Let's fast forward to this week in January 2008. Sports talk show hosts, television sportscasters and newspaper sports reporters have ripped San Diego Chargers Quarterback Phillip Rivers for flapping his gums at first Denver Quarterback Jay Cutler and now the Indianapolis Colts fans as he left the field with an injury vowing to return. He returned but didn't play but that didn't stop him from his chirping at the Colts fans in the nearby stands. My take, no harm, no foul. It was an immature act by a young quarterback but did it really hurt anyone? I don't think so.

Trash talking can hurt in some cases and I point to the same Colts/Chargers game, where San Diego defensive tackle Igor Olshansky said when asked about New England, "Seriously, I mean they're more worried than we are, I promise you, believe me. They know what's up". Those comments will find their way to the Patriots bulletin board but in all honesty, they don't need anything to motivate them, although you know Bill Bellechik will use it to remind his team that they can't take anyone for granted, including a Chargers team that is banged up.

In summation, I'll take trash talking over crying any time. For example, I was somewhat amused when Terrell Owens started bawling at his post game media session after the Cowboys lost to the Giants. He's much more entertaining when he's throwing someone under the bus, like a coach, or a couple of his former quarterbacks. The only limitation, don't say A BAD WORD ABOUT ANYONE'S MOM.

Gary Cruz
CBS 5 Sports Anchor

gcruz@kpho.com